It just doesn’t have the same feel to it.
When the Colorado Rockies were jumping up and down with Michael McKenry, who hit his first-ever walk-off home run in the 11th inning on Wednesday to give the Rockies a 7-5 victory, the celebration rang hollow.
Don’t blame McKenry, and don’t blame the Rockies. They showed a ton of fight in their come-from-behind victory that could have easily been a cast-off, getaway day loss that came along with a ho-hum attitude. In years past, that is exactly what would have happened. Instead, the Rockies continued to fight and came away with a victory.
The problem is, even with a hard-fought victory, this club isn’t going to finish with enough wins to impress anyone. The season is lost and the entire hope of the organization essentially rests in the hands of guys who aren’t currently with the big league club. While starting pitcher Jon Gray must pan out, the club will have to find other strong contributors from within the organization who can step up and help the team go from being a lollipop on the schedule of the opponents, to a formidable team that must be taken seriously.
To focus on the positives, the Rockies had no business winning the game. Carlos Gonzalez tied the game at three in the 6th inning with a monster home run that hit off of the back wall of the visitors bullpen. It was a vintage CarGo shot that left no-doubt when it left the bat. However, in true Rockies fashion, the bullpen gave up two runs in the top of the 7th, essentially putting the Rockies right back where they were before, with less outs to play with.
At that point, the easy thing for the Rockies to do would have been to roll over and hope for a better day on Friday when they take on a very good Washington Nationals team on the road. It would have been understandable if even the die-hard Rockies fans had given up hope that Wednesday would wind up as a win at the time that John Axford gave up the two-run shot to Franklin Gutierrez in the 7th.
Instead, they rallied in the 9th, down two runs, and tied the game up. After Joe Beimel struck out CarGo to start the inning, Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon went with Rodney, the embattled closer who has struggled in 2015. He immediately walked DJ LeMahieu, then gave up a run-scoring double to Ben Paulsen to cut the lead to one run with the tying run in scoring position.
With his first chance to show what he could really do at the big league level, Kyle Parker came through with a soft single to right field that scored Paulsen to tie the game.
As great as it might have been for the Rockies to tie the game, the state of the bullpen has been so bad that there still wasn’t much hope that the Rockies could avoid the sweep. With Christian Friedrich on the mound, Logan Morrison walked, then Mike Zunino walked. Old friend Seth Smith came to the plate and laid down a sacrifice bunt, putting runners at second and third base with one out. Almost any kind of contact would give the Mariners the lead.
Walt Weiss, in a savvy and brave move, went to his old veteran, one who has struggled of late to get the job done. He removed Friedrich from the game and called on Rafael Betancourt to hold the Mariners at bay. In what brought flashbacks to September of 2009, Betancourt methodically struck out Ketel Marte in an 8-pitch at-bat to get the second out, then got Kyle Seager to fly out to left field to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 11th, McKenry did his thing. With a runner on first base and two outs, McKenry took a 2-2 pitch and put it onto the left field concourse, just inside the foul pole to end the game and let the Rockies get out of town with a victory instead of another terrible loss.
The Rockies are certainly a team in transition. They are a team without a true identity. There really is no clear direction as to where they are headed. That is a tough thing for Rockies fans to understand and get on board with. Fans have been extremely patient through the past four seasons and suddenly find themselves in a position where the club is asking them to be patient for even longer.
What the 2015 Rockies can still accomplish in the final two months of another meaningless season is important. They can become the cornerstone of the new identity that the Rockies build. They can be the group of guys who decide that winning is what will be the focus of this organization. It will be this team that sets the tone of expectations and what it means to be a Colorado Rockie.
At one point, the Rockies had a franchise that had that excitement. They had that accountability. That feeling is no longer in that clubhouse. It is up to the 2015 team to set that tone, or it will take another full season of trying.
